book list

 to-read book list covers


So I didn't make it to 52 books last year but it's a new year (and a half) right?

Book List 2013

1. Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore - Robin Sloan

This was like a YA adventure read - everything works out for them all of the time (spoiler!) but it was fun following along.

2. The Sartorialist: Closer - Scott Schuman                           

Who lets Scott Schuman speak/write/communicate? Because he always manages to make himself sound terribly pompous. The pictures though, as always, are great.

3. An Extraordinary Theory of Objects - Stefanie LaCava              

I wanted to like this so much more than I did. The concept is intriguing (how certain objects conjure up memories and meaning) and the physical book is beautifully assembled, but the writing was so disjointed. I found it hard to invest in the story and very difficult to connect with. Enjoyed the illustration in the book though.

4. 1Q84 - Haruki Murakami

It was good! It was HUGE and took a long time to get through due to my inability to cart it around everywhere. Would recommend reading this big old thing on an eBook though the 1Q84 is cover is a beauty.

5. Grace - Grace Coddington                     

Grace is incredible but she (I will give her credit for admitting) is no writer. She drops off a lot of tidbits without getting into detail ("oh and then we had a two year affair" - the end!) but then spends a whole chapter talking about her cats (which are great, but still!) A harmless, breezy weekend read about what you already knew - Grace is the best.

6. My Ideal Bookshelf - Jane Mount      

This is a book about people's favourite books (with illustrations) and I loved it.

7. Number9Dream - David Mitchell                        

I liked it but I still liked Mitchell's Cloud Atlas more, too bad that movie was such a disappointment.

8. Where'd You Go Bernadette? - Maria Semple

Definitely one of the most fun books that I read this year. It was over the top but also really humorous. Don’t let the cover deter you, it looks like a Shopaholic book but it's worth it.

9. A Hologram for The King - Dave Eggers                            

I mean, it was fine but empty – I guess that was the point?

10. Vampires in the Lemon Grove - Karen Russell                            

A mixed bag of her short stories, but one that I liked overall. I think she is at her best when it comes to short stories (see: Swamplandia or don't)

11. The Vanishers - Heidi Julavits                             

Such a good concept (witch college!) and first half but the second part was a letdown. I like her prose though.

12. Code Name Verity - Elizabeth Wein                

Good but heads up there is A LOT of historical detail which isn’t always my cup of tea, but I liked the YA girl power message of it all.

13. What I Loved - Siri Hustvedt               

Parts were great but it didn't blow me away. Some of the descriptions of the art were overly long and though I really like art fiction, I just never felt that I got a solid sense of the art being made even though it was a big part of this book.

14. And The Pursuit of Happiness - Maira Kalman                            

Illustrated book about US government - I learned a lot! Which I forget now! But I still recommend it.

15. The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller                            

Best love story award 2013! Greek mythology with a twist on the Achilles + Patroclus relationship.

16. What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank -Nathan Englander                 

Short story collections are always a toss-up (see: above, Karen Russell) but some of these stories are stunning and stay with you long after finishing them.

17. The Property - Rutu Modan               

More straightforward than her other works - not very forgiving towards Warsaw though.

18. Everything is Perfect When You're a Liar - Kelly Oxford                          

Some parts were funny but some were like just reading e-mails from a friend who is pretty good at e-mailing.

19. Tell The Wolves I'm Home - Carol Brunt                        

Really nice YA read about different kinds of love, YA writers just nailing relationships in fiction these days.

20. A User's Guide to Neglectful Parenting - GuyDelisle               

Funny little cartoons about being a dad.

21. Building Stories - Chris Ware              

Incredible! So intricate. One of the most poignant things that I read (/looked at) this year.

22. Learning to Love You More - Fletcher Harrell &Miranda July                

Reminded me of Leanne Shapton's approach – very much enjoyed that in between story & art/picture book feel.

22. Beautiful Ruins - Jess Walter                              

Very glamorous and cinematic.  Some people complained that this was too "tidy" but I loved the tidiness! Sometimes it is satisfying to find out what happens to everyone.

23. The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P - Adelle Waldman                    

Good book about the Brooklyn literary scene, could relate to a lot in this about being a late 20s early 30s person but was also repelled by/eyerolled a lot of it, which I think was on purpose and very well executed. Protaganist is infuriating but also realistically drawn – everyone knows a dude like this.

24. Bobcat - Rebecca Lee                            

Short story collection, general theme of university/learning.

25. Ghostwritten - David Mitchell                           

Similar concept to Cloud Atlas but even more dense. There was always so much going on in Mitchell's books but I liked this one too.

26. Heads and Straights - Lucy Wadham               

A novella about the author's family life in Chelsea, London - loved it. Very British.

27. The Flamethrowers - Rachel Kushner                            

Feel like this was the hyped book of the year. I wanted to like it more than I did because the writing was great and there was some incredible phrasing - but the plot (if there was one?) was all over the place. Still enjoyed reading it and am still enjoy reading (the TONS of) articles about it as well.

28. Crazy Rich Asians - Kevin Kwan                          

Like a Singaporean version of US Weekly trying to pass itself off as cultural commentary. So much talk about designer labels/food and *drama*. Overall a goofy read that was a bit too long. Sold me on Singaporean food though.

29. Waterloo-City, City-Waterloo - Leanne Shapton                       

Great, as always - observations of people on the Tube. A bit confusing at first but then really enjoyed it – probably because this is what I do on public transportation too.

30. Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie                    

Written by "that voice on ***Flawless"- some parts were so good! The observations about race in America and the descriptive writing were especially fantastic. My qualm was that the protagonist was such an unlikeable character that it was hard for me to root for her, not that you always have to root for the character, but the ending left me indifferent.

31. Life After Life - Kate Atkinson                            

I enjoyed it, like a literary Groundhog Day pretty much - a life lived over and over again in different ways, a downer at times (she seemed to always be in every part of London that got hit by a bomb during The Blitz) but then so fun in other parts.

32. The Testament of Mary - Colm Tóibín                            

Good but too short. Would’ve liked more from angry Mary.

33. It - Alexa Chung                       

Oh Alexa, I thought you were better than this. Pretty but vacant. Tumblr in book form essentially and even then, there was barely anything to it. Could have done with a lot more sass.

34. A Constellation of Vital Phenomena - Anthony Marra                             

Fantastic and heartbreaking book about life during the war in Chechnya.

35. Night Film - Marisha Pessl                   

I couldn't put this one down, (the Gone Girl of 2013 perhaps?) there were so many twists! Overall very good follow up to STiCP which was also a very fun read.

36. Sunday Night Movies - Leanne Shapton                       

I didn't read it so much as look at it because it is all paintings but it is Shapton so obviously (ha) I really liked it.

37. Rage of Poseidon - Anders Nilson                     

Modern day updates on the gods of Olympus. Clever story but the best part is the physical book - illustrated in stark black and white silhouettes on an accordion style pull-out.

Reading Goals 2014

- Read a book a week (ha!)

- Finish all of the books & magazines in my house/on my library queue before I order/buy a bunch more that I can't wait to read this year including:

• Wendy - Walter Scott
• A True Novel - Minae Mizumara
• No Regrets 
• Bluets - Maggie Nelson

- This bookmark forever and ever - could not justify the cost but it would probably be the first thing I bought if I won the lottery


Happy Reading! Any & all reading recommendations always appreciated.

☮

Life lately via Instagram

It always sneaks up like this and yet again - it's May. A very lovely start to one here on the west coast as well. I'm looking forward to spending more time outside, already dreaming of summer & picnics & the beach.

In other news, after a long break from school I am a student again and have just started a design program. April was a big month of adjustments and we are moving house at the end of May so it is looking like a busy spring. Lately loving taking homework breaks to read up on inspiring ladies:

• Re-reading this interview series on Wild at Heart with some of my favourite women on the internet, Jennilee Marigomen, Katie Merchant, Siri Thorson & Natalie Smith

• Weekend Ladies - Waiting for Saturday 

• Graphic Designer advice from Note to Self 

• Two interviews with Editor-in-Chief of The Gentlewoman, Penny Martin

• The World According to Zadie Smith

• Flawless life advice from Amy Poehler

• Anne Friedman & her pie charts are everything

• Speaking of everything -  Joan Didion's Thoughts on Everything

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Flowers by Jules Andre-Brown

Feeling predictably ~*inspired*~ after NYC & China, so I'm going to try to post more often/get through my archive of saved things:

• Encounters With Lindsay

• Interview with Mimi Jung of Brook & Lyn, creator of those dream weavings

• David Sedaris Reads Miranda July

• On Not Being Dead

• Zadie Smith on Joy

• What Was, Is and Will Be Popular

• Ashley Helvey doing good things over at Totokaelo - incredible new site & imagery, please can I have everything?

• So I know this is essentially just an LV ad, but Yasmin Sewell + NYC? Sold.

• Surprise, listening to NWTS like all y'all #drakewave

• Saw In a World and it was great - recommended!

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Lately: A History of Extraordinary Objects - Stephanie LaCava, The Travel Almanac, NW - Zadie Smith, 1Q84 - Haruki Murakami, Grace - Grace Coddington, New York Drawings - Adrian Tomine, The Family Meal - Ferran Andria, Coco 

As inspired by my lovely, world-traveler friend Rachel who always writes up the best reading lists:

Books Read* in 2012

1. Tonoharu Part 2 - Lars Martinson
Cute, but kind of a Debbie Downer this guy.

2. Gilded Lilies - Gillian Tamaki
I like her drawings, especially the one of her old classmates and the way that their portraits coincide with her memories of them.

3. Dress Your Family in Corduroy & Denim - David Sedaris
Sedaris is always an entertaining read but I liked When You Are Engulfed in Flames more than this one.

4. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? - Mindy Kaling   
I really like Mindy Kaling and I'm even trudging through The Mindy Project which is much like this book - inconsistent and not as funny as I thought it would be but some great bits that keep you coming back.

5. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson
But really doe, I was on vacation.

6. Game of Thrones - George R. Martin
There are so many people.

7. Room - Emma Donogue
Good read, not amazing yet manages to give me the heebie jeebs a little thinking about it.
  
8. Super Sad True Love Story - Gary Shteyngart  
This was really irritating at times but still a good story, very eerie and set in the not so far future.

9. Vaclav & Lena - Haley Tanner       
Great beginning but I felt that the end was rushed and a lot of the Russian stuff seemed very stereotypical. The love story was sweet though - not amazing but an okay read.

10. Bonjour Tristesse - Francoise Sagan        
An easy breezy read. I empathized with her meanness and the way in which she tested her power. Teens!

11. Man Walks Into a Room - Nicole Krauss     
As always Krauss's phrasing was gorgeous but the story was meh - there was a big lead-up where you think it'll be great but then it just gets questionable.

12. The Sisters Brothers - Patrick DeWitt     
Really enjoyed! Quick read, funny Western about 2 killer bros.

13. Slouching Toward Bethlehem - Joan Didion 
J Diddy writing the best essays as always. A good feel for the 60s in this one, loved the one on the Santa Ana winds.  

14. Jerusalem - Guy Delisle       
Always a fan of his travel illustrations and little observations, this was great and my favourite of his work so far.

15. The Art of Fielding - Chad Harbech       
I felt like there was so much hype for this one that it was impossible to live up to, but it was a good story with some flaws and okay enough that the baseball in it was tolerable! (I barely know anything about baseball)

16. The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes       
Also pretty hyped but a tricky little enjoyable read.

17. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green       
Well, I love YA Fiction so this was an easy sell for me - really sad & really wonderful. If I was a 17 year old this would be My Book.

18. The Defining Decade - Meg Jay        
Okay but VERY conservative and about a specific bougie section of 20-something society, still some good points but nothing new or drastic.

19. Battle Hymn of The Tiger Mother - Amy Chua       
This was funny, she's obviously super nuts but knows it - more self deprecating than I thought it would be but sort of hard to argue with because her kid went to Harvard and put on a concert at Carnegie Hall.

20. The Family Fang - Kevin Wilson       
Great concept - parents who incorporate (force) their kids into their performance art pieces and the effect that this has on the kids as grown-ups, but it gets a little goofy towards the end and the conclusion is a let down. A good read up until that point, though - plus I'm a sucker for art fiction.

21. Tree of Codes - Jonathan Safran Foer       
More like a long poem rather than a story, interesting and disarming to read because of the cut-outs - liked the idea of it though.

22. Habibi - Craig Thompson       
Really beautiful illustration work as always but I found it offensive. The girl is ALWAYS naked and being raped, basically.

23. Was She Pretty? - Leanne Shapton       
I loved it. Short little book of illustrations and anecdotes (sentences really) about people & their exes.

24. The Ask - Sam Lipyste       
Ugh, what a bummer. I can't believe that people are nuts for this book but maybe you have to be in a super cynical, sarcastic mood. I like satire but I felt like this dude just whined about everything and kind of deserved what came to him? The unlikable protagonist thing was done so much better in Super Sad True Love Story.

25. The Native Trees of Canada - Leanne Shapton       
This is a book of Shapton’s paintings of Canadian trees and I loved it.

26. Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry - Leanne Shapton       
I loved this book. Great concept, done well without being too cheesy or saccharine. Super romantic and bittersweet. One of my favourites of the year.

27. The Flame Alphabet - Ben Marcus       
Mixed feelings - amazing idea (speech becomes toxic to everyone except children) but the execution was meh and the writing was so muddled at times. So much potential to be a great book, but in the end I felt let down.

28. Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn       
It was "thrilling" but not a life changer though it will forever hold a special place in my heart because I read it during #SSI2012

29. Swimming Studies - Leanne Shapton
I’m such a fan of Shapton’s work now, loved the shapes of the paintings of pools that she’d swam in (seeing a pattern of using the word "love" whilst describing Shapton's books).

30. The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
This left me a little cold - the whole novel was like one big description of a circus which is cool if you REALLY LOVE the circus, maybe not so cool if you like a plot/storyline to be coherent. Tons of style, not much substance.

31. The Adults - Alison Espach       
Good parts but confusing writing style, she jumps back and forth through time which can be a good & funny device sometimes/utterly lacking in sense other times - also, not much character development though the protagonist is a good combo of snarky/innocent.

32. Martha & Hanwell - Zadie Smith       
Two short stories - both good but nothing amazing, the subtleties in the first one were nice and the 2nd seems to tie into NW** which I'm reading now, so that's a bonus.

33. How Should a Person Be? -  Shiela Heti       
I liked this a lot, though it’s definitely not for everyone - there isn't really a plot and it is quite experimental in form but I was a fan.

34. Shoplifting From American Apparel - Tao Lin       
I get it I GUESS but that doesn't mean that I have to like it (I didn't really like it).

35. It Chooses You - Miranda July       
You know, I wasn't sold on Miranda July but after this I like her. Really nice study (& quick read) on procrastination, art, what it means to be in a relationship, voyeurism & curiosity. I think this was a case of reading a book that really went well with how I was feeling at the time.

36. This Is How You Lose Her - Junot Diaz       
Short (stories) & sweet (but not really), liked it even more than The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which I really liked.

37. The Nao of Brown - Glyn Dillon       
Really nice illustrations but the story was only okay for me.

38. Forget Sorrow - Belle Yang       
Better story but super confusing illustrations, had to double back to keep track of who she was talking about a few times.

*/viewed - admittedly, some of these are essentially picture or illustrated books

**having such a tough time getting through NW even though I really want to because Zadie Smith is excellent/brilliant/etc. but ... it's tough

Reading Goals for 2013

1. Read one book a week

2. Read all of the books gathering dust on my shelves (hefty Franzens, I'm looking at you) & then sell/give away said books in hopes of achieving a (mostly) clutter-free 2013

3. Cajole someone into getting me some reading accessories from Book/Shop therefore nullifying #2

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As 2013 begins I feel incredibly lucky to be so blessed with family and pals and a home that I love. I've come to realize that I don't really need many material things and that less really is more.

However - - - one can dream (/attempt to justify those dreams):

Dream List

• A Detacher Hairy Pillow - People are divided on this pillow but I'm forever a fan - it's interesting and funny (and it's a hairy pillow)

• CDG Play Striped Shirt - coveting that silly little red heart

• Leica M Camera - We (hopefully!) are planning some travelling in our future and while I love shooting instant film & Jules' beautiful 35mm camera (plus our phones) it would be handy to have a digital camera.

• Edible Selby Book  - My mama gave me a bunch of Chapters gift cards and it was a toss up between this and Neue Welt, which I ultimately went with. Not one of those super necessary books but fun to flip through

• Byredo Bibliothèque Candle - I love me some Baies but this smells like the loveliest library ever (meaning it doesn't smell like a library)

• Proenza Schouler PS1 - Such a good looking book bag (#1 requirement for bags: must be able to carry a book like Rory Gilmore at prom)

• Sofia Coppola for Louis Vuitton Suede Calf Leather Bag - If the PS1 is my ideal book bag, this bag is my ideal bag full stop - perfect shape and size.

• Agnes Martin: Paintings, Writings & Remembrances - A.M. 4ever  

• MacBook Air - My trusty MacBook turns six this month!

• Miu Miu Baseball Cap - Been wanting either this or some variation of a five-panel hat for a minute 

• Rodin Olio Lusso - Someone is always praising this stuff on Into The Gloss

• Rodarte Radarte Sweatshirt - I have so many dream sweatshirts (I know) but this one is a little closer to being within my grasp than say, this one

• Dieppa Restrepo Leons - Well, it's a tie between these and those python Dandy's

• Le Creuset Dutch Oven in Dune - For all of those times when I bookmark recipes that I never end up making (that I would be forced to make if I had this fancy thing? Maybe?)

• Acne Studios Card Holder - This little thing!

• Repossi Berbère Ring - This (other) fancy thing!

• Margaret Howell Houses - I think you may have to order this from Japan ("you")  

• Round the World Ticket

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I really love books but I try (key word being try) not to buy them for a few reasons such as:

i. There are buildings filled with free books mere steps from my work and home and I like to support them

ii. I have enough stuff! If I do buy books I try to pass them on so that I won't sound like this

But I do make exceptions for:

i. Books that I really want to read with library hold lists over 200 people long

ii. Exceptionally lovely books, mainly of the pretty picture or art variety

 

If I sound uppity rest assured - rules gets thrown out the window when it comes to magazines. I love magazines. Library selection is so-so and they don't hold up that well in the public sphere, many a time I've opened up a library magazine to find that someone has torn out pages - how cruel! These are my favourite ones:

• The Gentlewoman - London based lady counterpart to Fantastic Man, hands down best presentation, loveliest editorials and interesting interviews with interviewee types you don't always see

• Lula - the girliest, prettiest magazine out of the U.K. 

• Wilder Quarterly - Brooklyn-based, plants, gardens & nature galore! 

• The Plant - Barcelona-based, plants, gardens & nature galore ;)

• Apartamento - Appeals directly to my curiousity about other people's houses & possessions - photos of real life, non-staged homes of creatives

• Self Service - I bought my first issue of this magazine (which is bound like a book) last month and while I really liked it I don't know that I can justify the price ($50 CDN), good thing they have lots of content on their website

• 032C - Contemporary culture magazine out of Berlin, the Approaches to The History of Art editorial in the last issue was a highlight, as was the interview with Lydia Davis

• Gather - the best food staging & photography that I've ever seen

• A Magazine Curated By - I got the issue with Rodarte and loved the entire thing, would really like to get my hands on A Magazine Curated By Maison Martin Margiela